This is why the rest of the world hates America: we are planning to shoot down a spy satellite that is falling out of orbit. That in and of itself isn't the problem. The problem is we just got done bitching and throwing hissy fits at China for doing EXACTLY THE SAME THING. The only difference here is: 1) we're letting people know ahead of time (although that changes exactly nothing about the consequences of the action) and 2) it's us and that makes it ok.
Our government is in the business of saying one thing and doing another (e.g. we're not torturing prisoners when they're actively water-boarding them, we're not spying on our own people while actively tapping phones, etc. etc. ad infinitum). It's also in the business of telling other countries what to do while we do the opposite (e.g. not making nuclear weapons while we design new ones, reducing carbon emissions while we increase our own, etc. etc. ad nauseam). And this is, among many other reasons, why the rest of the world would love nothing more than to see the bully on the block get its comeuppance. You cannot expect another sovereign government to not do something if you are actively doing the same thing. It makes you look like an asshole.
To add insult to injury, the US has offered to pay for any damage to other nation's satellites that may result from the destruction of ours. (I'm tired of every news story being some fucking video I have to watch and sit through commercials, so you
don't get a link). But the expense isn't the point. The point is we made a big stink about China doing it and now we're going to do the same thing. Whether we pay for it or not, we're still going to fill satellite orbits with extra debris when we know that orbital debris is already a major problem. This could easily be avoided by either 1) letting the fucker fall out of the sky (the original plan) or 2) take the next shuttle crew up, attach a rocket, and do a controlled crash into the ocean.
The argument for destruction is that it's a spy satellite, so we have to do it to protect "national secrets". I don't buy it. I might if this were the first such thing to happen during this particular administration and if we hadn't busted China's balls for it. But it's always a "national security" argument with this administration. And my chances of dying because of a breach of national security are the same as they were yesterday and last year: 0%. That makes this a specious argument. It's only advantage is that it can never be proven wrong and so will act as a cover for any other nation that legitimately asks why we're being two-faced about shooting down satellites.
Fuck this hypocrisy. I'm going to get a donut.
2 comments:
Your best post in a while, sir!
I was just getting ready to bitch about this, but the opposite of bitching-- I was going to suggest a way for all the developed nations of the world to band together and do something extremely useful.
There is a few tons of random shit floating in orbit, right? And enough large enough pieces that if they fell out of orbit, some unlucky fuck in Bratislava is getting a 4 inch piece of flaming metal in the neck, right?
Why don't the US, China, Britain, Russia, and any other country willing, co-sponsor a mission to collect that shit and bring it back to be disposed of properly? It wouldn't cost a whole lot, especially not after a dozen nations split the cost, and would do a good thing for the planet and foster something resembling good relations. Fuck Jesse Jackson-- I can unite the entire world.
This is a super idea, why don't I get a fucking metal?
It's not as simple as you'd think. You could pretty easily get the large pieces. But you couldn't do it in one or probably even ten flights. It has to do with where the pieces are and the fact that you'd have to constantly reposition your shuttle to intercept each piece. That would require a lot of fuel for your rockets. Also, you'd have to bring that crap back to Earth and there is very limited space on the shuttle. The only reason these big satellites get put up is that they go up in a small form and unfold once in orbit. But I agree with you that splitting the costs and working together would help our international image and do a good thing for future space exploration.
It would be impossible to get the smaller pieces. There's just too many and most of them are so small they're nearly impossible to detect. But these are some of the most dangerous because they move with such a high velocity.
I think a better solution is to design atellites with de-orbiting thrusters from the start. All satellites have a planned obsolescence and removing the fucker from orbit should be part of that. Of course, something may go wrong with the thruster or the satellite could lose all communication, but at least a majority of satellites would come down in a controlled manner and we could avoid this little problem of shooting shit down.
Zach Galifinasty rules!
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